Going To The Chapel

Hi, guys! For today, I made another wedding card.  This one I actually did with nobody specific in mind.  It is a rare day lately that I can make a card just for the fun of making it.  It will be nice to have one on hand for a future use.  I decided to use a Thomas Kinkade stamp for this card.  I love this lovely chapel image and thought it would be perfect for a wedding card.

Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms (Thomas Kinkade Series)
Ink: Adirondack Pesto, Distress Ink
Paper:  Gina K (Ivory), Gold Indian Paper, The Ink Pad NYC notecard
Misc.: Word Punch, Twine, Straw Colored Pencil, Computer Generated Sentiment

Thomas Kinkade's art is among some of my favorites.  His use of color and how he used light in each of his pieces was amazing.  I am so sorry the world lost him too early.  His memory will live forever in his paintings.

Hope you have a great day!

July Design Team Submissions III- The Finale

Hi, guys!  Hope all is well.  Today I will be sharing the final cards for the July Design Team Submissions of The Ink Pad NYC.

The first card I am going to share with you today incorporates both stamping and using dies for the butterflies.  I used images from Stampers Anonymous from the Nature's Discovery Set.  I also sprayed Dylusions spray inks on paper and cut out tiny butterflies using The Memory Box Die Butterfly Delights. They are so adorable!  Using the spray this way made them all different.   The background was embossed using the Tim Holtz embossing folder Honeycomb.

For the last card, I decided to use black glossy cardstock for the base.  I used Maya Road Stamps for the butterflies.  I am really enjoying the new Summer Distress Ink colors, so I used them for the images.  I used twine for the butterfly trails.  To make them stiff, I used Claudine Hellmuth Matte Medium.

My four-month term on the design team is ending this month.  I want to thank The Ink Pad NYC for allowing me to be on their first design team.  It meant a lot to me and I hope you enjoyed my creations. It sure was a lot of fun for me.

Hope you find a few moments in your day to do something you love!

July Design Team Submissions II - Fluttering By

Hi, guys! Hope you are all doing well today.  I am sitting here in front of my air conditioner (literally!) as I write this post.  I am sure hoping this heat breaks before it breaks me!

I thought I would share the next two cards I made for the July Design Team of The Ink Pad NYC.  The theme this month was butterflies.  I also had to incorporate the Ranger Dylusion sprays, and wooden buttons.

I decided to use dies instead of stamps for the butterflies this time.  I used the Memory Box (Moonlight Butterfly) die to cut out some butterflies after I sprayed the papers with  Dylusions sprays.  It was a fun way to add color to them.  The background is embossed with a Tim Holtz Embossing folder. I also decided to spray the wood button and it worked great. The sentiment I stamped on the butterfly is from Maya Road.

For this next card, I decided to use one large butterfly from Hero Arts/Basic Grey from the Butterflies Print set.  I thought it would be fun for this one to keep it one solid color to show the print on it.  I scored the card along the bottom and inserted the sentiment there.  I thought this green and brown wooden button would go nice with it.

Hope you like these cards.  It is a lot of fun sharing them with you.  I hope you find a few moments in your day to do something you love!   Until next time!

July Design Team Submissions - Inky Butterflies

Hi, guys!  Hope all is well.  I finally found some time to get INKY today and thought I would share the two cards I made with you.   These are the first two of my July Design Team submissions for The Ink Pad NYC. This month I was given Maya Road butterflies, and Dylusions spray ink to work with.

I was given Ranger's Cut Grass Dylusions spray.  I really love this stuff.  I have it in a few other colors, so I included Crushed Grape Dylusions spray also.   I love the vibrant colors.  For this card I just misted it on dry card stock.

For the next card, I used the Dylusions spray on glossy card stock with water to obtain a watercolor look. The colors of the sprays I used on this one are Pure Sunshine and London Blue.  The butterfly on this card is by Stampers Anonymous and the background is by Hero Arts. The hardware is by Tim Holtz.

I had fun making these cards.  Have a cardboard box handy when you are using spray inks.  It really does keep your work surface clean as well as containing the ink from going airborne (take it from one who knows firsthand!)  I know there are little boxes made for use with spray inks, but really any old box will do (and it will save a tree to recycle one you already have!).

I look forward to sharing the next few cards in the upcoming days.  Stay cool, my friends!

June Design Team Submissions - Home Sweet Home

Hi, guys!  I am sharing the final June submissions for The Ink Pad NYC design Team. These final cards each feature Hero Arts stamps and they feature some rather funky and fun-looking house designs.

For this first one, I kept it fun and decided to make the house a bit whimsical and went for some fun bright flowers.  I was given some bakers twine, and thought it would be fun to use that as the smoke coming from the chimney.  I used distress inks for the sky and ground.

I made this last card while watching my beloved New York Mets lose to the New York Yankees in the Subway Series.  If you follow baseball, you will know how crushing it is to watch your team lose over and over.  I think I was channeling the Mets by using their colors!  The background stamp I used on this was from Impression-Obsession called Graph Paper.   I used twine to make a banner and used some tags from Vintage Street for the sentiment.  I think this card would be fun to give to someone who bought a new house, or for any fun occasion. The inks used were Archival and, of course, distress ink.  I have been using distress ink so much lately that I am beginning to wonder: if I cut myself, will I bleed distress ink?

Have a great day!  Stay cool, and have some fun!

June Design Team Submissions - Up, Up and Away

Hi, guys!  Back again today to share a couple more of my June Design Team Submissions for The Ink Pad NYC.  The stamps used are all Hero Arts.  I decided to name these cards "Up, Up and Away"!  I am sure I will now be singing this song in my head for a few days.  There are worse things, as it is a happy tune!  For the first one, I decided to stamp the balloon as if it is floating over the tree tops.   I am not one to take a hot air balloon ride, but when I see them floating over vineyards on TV, I sure wish I had the nerve to try it.

For this next one, I decided to focus the attention on the balloon already in flight and cut out some fun arrows with fun travel sayings and placed them around the image.  How many times have you heard "Are we there yet?" when you are traveling?

Have a great day, everyone!  Stay cool, and stay creative!

June Design Team Submissions - Travel Theme

Hi, guys!  Hope everyone is doing well.  We are starting another heat wave here in NYC today.  Boy, am I not a happy camper.  So, when things get hot, I stamp!  It always makes me feel better.

Today I am going to start sharing my June Design Team Submissions for The Ink Pad NYC.  We were given stamps by Hero Arts that could work well for travel and vacation.    As soon as I thought of travel, my mind went directly to ... Paris, of course.  I know, it is an obsession of mine.  You would think I have been there more than once.   I decided to stamp an Eiffel Tower in the middle of the stamped image of the Polaroid picture.  Gosh, remember those cameras?  I used my glitter pen to make it sparkle just like the tower does in real life. I was given patterned papers and thought the arrow on it that reads "The Perfect Spot" was very fitting.

I decided to name the next card "Trains, Planes, and Automobiles"!  The fun travel paper with all the various forms of trasportation had me recalling that crazy movie with Steve Martin.  I used the plane and automobile stamps and cut them out with a circle punch and distressed them with my favorite ink ... yep, distress ink!   We were given cool wooden postcards and I stamped directly on it with archival ink.

It is funny to me how my card making can make me recall so many fun memories out of the blue.  When was the last time you thought of a fun vacation you went on, or a movie from many, many years ago?

Have a great day!  Hope you find some time in your day to do something you love!  I also hope you aren't too hot where you are.

May Design Team Submissions - French Inspired

Bonjour! (I couldn't resist!)  Hope you are having a great day.  I mentioned yesterday that I would share the last of my May submissions for The Ink Pad's design team.  These cards are French inspired. If you know me personally you know that I LOVE Paris!  I was lucky enough to get there once.  It was a trip I will always remember.  My husband will tell you I am a bit obsessed with my love of France and Paris, pointing out all the pictures, art and Eiffel Towers all around our home.   I hope to get there again someday.  In the meantime, I will create with it in mind!

This month I was given papers that had great French images, French scripts etc.  I thought it would be fun to make cards with a French feel.

The first card I am sharing had lovely French script on the paper and I thought it would be fun to use a dress form from Stampers Anonymous.  I used Alpha letters from Tim Holtz to write out Merci.  I was given great linen tape ribbon that I thought would go well with the dress form.

The second card also features lovely French paper.  When I saw it I knew I had to pull out the Sizzix/Hero Arts stamp and die cut set.  I used a Sakura glitter pen for the Eiffel Tower image. 

My husband wasn't surprised when I showed him these two cards as he said it was only a matter of time before I had an Eiffel Tower on one of them.  

Hope you enjoyed looking at my submissions. It was fun sharing them with you.

May Design Team Submissions - Birds of a Feather

Hi, guys!  Hope all is well.  Yesterday I shared two cards I made for the May submissions of The Ink Pad design team.  I thought I would share two more today. The first one I am sharing I used a wide ribbon that they gave me with a great image of a bird on it.  I decided to die cut a bird from it using my Vagabond machine.  The stamps are from Hero Arts and I white heat embossed the sentiment.  The fun paper is Bazzill and I was given Victorian Velvet Distress Stain so I thought it would be fun to color the paper with it.

The next card I am sharing also used a bird!  The stamp is from Inkadinkado and the fun paper is Bazzill again.  I decided to break out my new distress ink color Peacock Feathers.  I am really loving these new Spring colors.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.   This month we were given great ribbons to work with and I thought it would be fun to make a bit of a ruffle out of it for this card.

I will be back tomorrow with the last two cards for May.  They are both French inspired.

Have a great day!

My May Submissions for The Ink Pad Design Team

Hi, guys!  Hope all is well.  I just finished my 6 cards for this month for The Ink Pad Design Team.  I thought I would share two of them with you today. The image cracked me up.  I know a lot of us feel like this woman sometimes.  So, I thought I would use her in two different ways.  This first one I thought I would have her reacting to all the bad news in the newspapers.  The vintage Bazzill papers are great.  The stories on them are so fun to read, too.  I would need a margarita after reading them!

The next one I thought I would use the ledger paper and distress it  and have her thinking about all the work she has to do (haven't we all been there?).

I hope you enjoyed them.  I will be sharing some more cards featuring other stamps tomorrow.  I am enjoying this opportunity as it is great using supplies you normally wouldn't grab necessarily and have fun using them.

Hope you find some time today to do something you love!

The Ink Pad, Part III: Dye Harder

Hi, guys!  Hope you are having a good day.   I thought I would share the last two cards I made for this month's submission for The Ink Pad NYC design team.  I colored the images with Copic markers and dyed the ribbons with the matching marker.  As you can see, these are more floral images.  All embellishments, images and sentiments were supplied by the store.

I hope you like them.  They were fun to make.  I am looking forward to seeing what May's theme will be!

Have a great day!  Hope you find some time in the day to do something you love!

Floral Cards for April Design Team for The Ink Pad

Hi, guys!  Hope your day is going well.  I thought I would share two more cards I made for The Ink Pad this month.

This month I did a bunch of floral cards.  I love that even though they had flowers on them, they were all very different in look and feel.   Personally,  I am not much of an earth tone kinda gal, but ended up loving the papers so much that I had to go to the store and pick up a supply for myself.  The card stock is from a 6x6 pad from a company called Canvas Home Basics.

I also had to use Stickles in Star Dust.  So I applied it directly to the stamped flower image above and in the light it twinkles so nicely.   I love Stickles and have them in so many colors.  I am definitely a glitter and shine kinda gal.

One other tip I have for you is to use your markers to color ribbon.  I had a piece of pale pink ribbon, but you will see on today's cards and the cards that follow later this week that the ribbon is not that shade any more.  I colored it with matching Copic Marker colors to match the focal image.  It is a fun way to get even more use out of your supplies.

Hope you like them, and hope you have a great day!  I can almost feel the weekend upon us!!

My First Submissions for The Ink Pad Design Team

Hi, guys.  A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was named to the new design team for a great stamp store in Manhattan called The Ink Pad for a period of 4 months.   I just turned in my first assignment of 6 cards.  I will be sharing them with you the next few days.  I used Ranger Archival inks, Tim Holtz Distress inks (no surprise there) and Adirondack Earthtones ink.  The first card I used Cherry Sorbet Twinkling H2O's for the flowers and on the sentiment.

I had a blast making these cards.  They both incorporate my love of distress inks, but they also made me step outside my comfort zone and do a lot more with earth tones than I normally do.

I hope you like them, and if you have any questions about them shoot me an email and I will get back to you.

Have a great evening!

Keep Calm and Carry (and Stamp) On

Hi, guys!  Hope you all had a great weekend and are enjoying the week so far.  I thought I would share a few purchases I made this weekend.  For those of you who may not know, I have a collection of teapots (and cups) as well as my trusty rubber stamps.  Well, this weekend I was out and about in Manhattan to see my husband perform in a play (his company does re-creations of old-time radio mysteries) and before the show I took in some shopping and browsing.

I was so tickled to see the stamp at The Ink Pad, and then a few blocks away I found the teapot.  How fun is that?

Now I will have to use the stamp to create something while using my new teapot.

It was a great evening of fun with friends, a great show and new treasures.

Have a great day, and I hope you find a moment in your day to do something you love!

Exciting News To Share!

Hi, guys!  My big announcement is that I have been named to the design team for The Ink Pad, the fabulous stamp store located in Manhattan!   My term will be from April 1 - July 31, 2012.  I am very excited to be working with such wonderful people.   I will be creating card projects and sharing them here on my blog, Facebook and Twitter.    

If you haven't been to The Ink Pad, you are missing out.  It is a stamper's dream, filled with anything you would ever need to create great cards, scrapbook pages or mixed media art.   The staff is so helpful and will take great care of you.

Couldn't wait to share this news.  I hope you have a great day, and find a few moments in your day to do something you love!